54.0°

The Ninilchik Traditional Council elicited emotional responses with its two federal subsistence fishing proposals at the Kenai-Soldotna Fish and Game Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday.

The AC met to discuss five federal subsistence fisheries proposals potentially affecting the Cook Inlet area, testimony for which will be presented at the Southcentral Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council meeting set for Oct. 7-9 in Tazlina. Of the five voted on by the Kenai-Soldotna AC, both NTC proposals were opposed.

With federal proposal 09-07, Ninilchik is once again seeking to join the Hope and Cooper Landing communities to be allowed to harvest resident-species fish in the federal waters of the Kenai River. This issue was brought before the Federal Subsistence Board last year but was denied with a 3-to-3 vote.

Ninilchik residents already have subsistence permits to fish for salmon on the Kenai River and to take both salmon and resident species from the Kasilof River.

The NTC also wants to allow dipnetting on the banks of the Kenai River at the Moose Range Meadows site. Currently, only dipnetting from a boat is permitted. This proposal, FP09-08, was also denied with a 3-to-3 vote at last year's FSB meeting.

Three other federal subsistence proposals were discussed at Tuesday's meeting. The Kenai-Soldotna AC voted to support all three.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game proposes clarifying the regulations surrounding the retention of steelhead/rainbow trout on the Kenai Peninsula. The proposal states that no one person be allowed to keep more than two steelhead/rainbow trout greater than 20 inches in length. The proposal would include both state and federal limits. If passed, this proposal would prevent any angler sport, commercial, or subsistence user from retaining more than two steelhead/rainbow trout more than 20 inches in length for the year. An angler could keep two under the state limit, or two under the federal limit, or one under each, but could not keep more than two trout measuring more than 20 inches total, regardless which waters the fish was caught in.

Regarding subsistence fishing, the current regulation says that residents of Ninilchik may retain up to 200 steelhead/rainbow trout of any size. Fish and Game is proposing to change the regulation to state that Ninilchik residents may keep up to 200 steelhead/rainbow trout for subsistence use, with no more than two fish being longer than 20 inches. Hence, 198 fish would have to be under 20 inches in length and only two could exceed 20 inches in length.

The proposal also seeks to clarify grayling and burbot regulations for the peninsula. Burbot and grayling will not be part of federal subsistence use on the Kenai Peninsula. "It will not change the current use of the sport/recreational or commercial use of rainbow trout, steelhead trout, grayling or burbot as this is consistent with present state of Alaska regulations," according to the proposal.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had two proposals discussed at Tuesday's meeting.

The first proposal deals with clarifying existing regulations. For all fish that have to be marked and recorded on a permit, "They must be marked and recorded prior to leaving the fishing site," according to the proposal. "The fishing site includes the particular federal public waters and/or adjacent shoreline from which the fish were harvested." Incidentally caught fish must also be recorded on the permit "before transporting fish from the fishing site."

Residents of Hope, Cooper Landing and Ninilchik must return their permits to the federal fisheries manager by the due date that is listed on the permit. Currently, the regulation states the permits must be returned at the end of the season.

Also, the current regulation states that Ninilchik residents can take salmon on the upper mainstream of the Kasilof River from a federal regulatory marker on the river below the Tustumena Lake outlet downstream to a marker at Silver Salmon Rapids. The proposal would change the language to say that Ninilchik residents can fish from the Tustumena outlet down to a marker on the river about 2.8 miles below the Tustumena Lake boat ramp.

The second U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal discussed at the meeting deals with the early run king salmon and lake trout.

For the early-run Chinook salmon, Fish and Wildlife is proposing to change the low end of the slot limit from 44 inches to 46 inches, making any fish less than 46 inches or more than 55 inches a legal fish.

For Hidden Lake, the daily trout limit now is four per day and four in possession, regardless of size. The proposal would bring the limit down to two per day and two in possession, regardless of size. Similar changes in the early run king salmon slot limit and Hidden Lake harvest limit were made by the Alaska Board of Fisheries in February 2008.

Mike Nesper can be reached at mike.nesper@peninsulaclarion.com.